New Jersey’s Sham School Elections
What a whacky world we live in where rejecting increases in school budgets are called cuts and voters have control over school spending as long as they approve proposed budgets. Is it any wonder so few people bother to vote in these sham elections?
New Jersey is rare in giving control over school budgets — and thus property tax rates — directly to voters. When budgets are defeated, it's up to municipal governing bodies to decide whether to alter the spending plans. A local school board can appeal any cuts to the state Department of Education.Who has control over school budgets and “thus property tax rates”? Clearly it isn’t the voters – it’s the state Department of Education. Rare indeed!
Posted by Enlighten-NewJersey @ 11:28 AM
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2 Comments:
It's even more insane than you think. Last year, our school board proposed a 7 cent cut in the property tax rate to the voters, and it was defeated 312-300. The township commitee shuffled some deck chairs to get the number a little lower and approved the plan. That was the 12th consecutive year that the voters defeated a school budget.
This year, the budget passed 254-196, with about a 0.3 cent cut in the rate. Go figure.
In our town, the school has raised taxes by 65 cents in the last four years. Only one of the four budgets passed. The other three had increases of 22+ cents each. The state trimed each a little and the school was able to claim more money to waste. Ah, America, where the teacher's union can screw us all!
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